IU's Metz Carillon Moving To Center Of Bloomington Campus

By
Lindsey Wright

Posted April 14, 2017

The Metz Carillon on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus is moving to the arboretum in the center of campus.

The Board of Trustees approved plans to refurbish and move the musical instrument Friday.

The 91-foot tall Metz Carillon, named after a successful doctor who was a big supporter of IU, currently sits near the intersection of Jordan and 17th.

Tom Morrison, IU’s vice president for capital planning and facilities, says more people can enjoy the rare instrument in the arboretum.

“The opportunity for the carillon to be played for concerts for people to enjoy or even on a daily basis by students and faculty of the school of music is much more beneficial than we’re able to take advantage of in the current location,” Morrison says.

The project is expected to cost around $7 million and Morrison says officials hope it will be complete in the fall of 2019.

“The next step is, we will work through design and sometime, probably late summer early fall, we will bring back to the trustees an approval for design and at that point the project will move forward,” Morrison says.

The carillon has 61 bells, but four more will be added, making it a grand carillon. Morrison says there are only a handful of them in the country and only six carillons in Indiana.